History of the icon “The Sign”
The first prototypes of the miraculous face date back to the fourth century; the Mother of God with raised hands and the Savior Emmanuel in her arms was painted on the Roman tomb in which Saint Agnes was buried. The sixth century image of the Mother of God “Nicopaea” is known; in it, the Mother of God holds a shield on which the Savior Emmanuel is depicted.
The history of the appearance of the most ancient image of Rus', which delights Orthodox minds with its signs and wonders, is unusual.
Ancient miraculous icon of the Mother of God “The Sign”
The 13th century for the Kursk region was a time of ruin and devastation from the raids of the Tatar horde. According to legend, on September 8, 1295, a resident of the city went into the forest to buy firewood and saw an icon under a tree. As soon as the man touched the holy image, took it in his hands, a source of spring water began to flow from under the tree.
The townspeople, having heard about the acquisition of the holy face, built a church on that spot, where the acquired shrine was kept. Soon everyone in the area knew about the healing power of the bright image of the Mother of God, and pilgrims from all over the region flocked to the Church of the Sign.
Interesting! The Kursk-Root Icon was placed in the Church of the Mother of God, in which a miracle was soon revealed - the healing of a boy, who later became the famous Seraphim of Sarov.
Read about icons:
- Icon of the Virgin Mary “Peschanskaya”
- Icon of the Mother of God “Igorevskaya”
- Icon of the Mother of God “Consolation and Consolation”
Miracles of moving the holy face
By order of Prince Vasily Shemyaka, who heard about the miracles, the shrine was moved to Rylsk.
A religious procession was organized to meet her, but the prince himself ignored the meeting of the shrine, and for this he was punished with blindness. The blind prince spent whole days in prayer in front of the healing image and received insight. In gratitude for the healing revealed, he built the Nativity Church, where the miraculous icon “The Sign” was transferred.
Very little time passed, and the shrine disappeared, appearing at the place where it was found. Several times the residents of Rylsk returned it to the temple, but to no avail, the icon returned to the river bank.
By good will, priest Bogolyub held services in a small chapel, into which pilgrims constantly flocked.
A new miracle was revealed by the holy face of the Mother of God during the fire of 1383, caused by the Tatars during their next raid. The Basurmans cut the holy face in half, burned the church, took the priest prisoner, and a few years later he was ransomed by Russian merchants.
Important! Immediately upon returning from captivity, the priest wandered into the ashes, what was his surprise when he found both halves of the holy image, folded them, the icon grew together on its own so that no trace was visible.
Moving to Moscow
For two centuries the holy “Kursk-Root” icon was kept in a chapel built for it, and in 1597, by order of Tsar Theodore, it was transported to Moscow. Tsar Theodore himself, Patriarch Job, the entire sacred cathedral, the boyars, the army and the inhabitants of Moscow came out to meet them.
After the prayer service, by royal order, the holy image was supplemented with the image of the Lord of Hosts and the Holy Spirit in the upper part, and on the sides the holy image was, as it were, protected by the Old Testament prophets.
- In 1615, the shrine was moved to the newly built Korennaya Pustyn Monastery; most of the time the icon remains in the Znamensky Monastery of Kursk. In 1676, the holy face of the Mother of God was first taken to the Don, where the Cossacks were blessed with it.
- During the war with the French in 1812, a list was written from the miraculous image and presented to the Kutuzov army.
- In 1898, the Kursk-Root icon showed a miracle again when revolutionaries planted a bomb in the Znamensky Church, the building was damaged by the explosion, but the shrine remained unharmed. After 50 years, one of the terrorists repented and said that it was this miracle that turned him to God.
- In 1918, the original and its list were stolen because of a luxurious frame from the Church of the Sign. The revolutionary authorities accused the monks themselves of the theft and did not conduct a search.
In all churches and monasteries of Kursk there was a round-the-clock prayer for the holy image. The Mother of God announced herself after 30 days.
Two girls washed clothes in the stream, folded it at the Feodosievsky well, looking into which they saw a bag. There was no water in the well, and curious girlfriends pulled out the find, finding two wooden boards in it, which was reported to the relatives and the priest who accompanied the funeral procession.
Icon of the Mother of God “Kursk-Root”
A commission was quickly assembled and it was established that the shrine and its list were on wooden boards. In honor of the blessed event, thousands of people attended a solemn prayer service on Red Square.
Under the ringing of bells in a religious procession, the Kursk-Root Icon and its copy were returned to the place where the shrine was found.
Interestingly, the original and the copy were so identical that only Grigory Shuklin, the icon painter and author of the list, could distinguish them.
Shuklin instantly found the original by the barely noticeable scar that remained from the Tatar’s saber. A blue robe was put on the holy image, in which it is represented today.
After the revolution, the “travels” of the holy face of the Mother of God began throughout cities and countries.
General Denikin took the shrine to Novorossiysk, in 1920 it was transported by Bishop Feofan to Crimea, then to Serbia, where it settled in the Yazak monastery.
In 1927, the shrine was transported to Belgrade. Our Lady showed special grace to the residents of Belgrade during the war. The city was under constant bombing, but not a single bomb fell on Russian churches and those houses in which prayer services were held with the miraculous shrine of the Mother of God.
Witnesses subsequently wrote that, among the ruins and complete ruins, houses untouched by bombing seemed like a miracle, and in another place a case was described when three bombs that fell near the temple in which the icon was kept did not explode and were subsequently neutralized by sappers.
The Serbs invited priests to their homes during religious processions, carried out with the holy image through the streets of the city, even during the bombings. Metropolitan Anastassy showed the laity an example of faith, not leaving the Church of the Holy Trinity even during air raids, and was never ashamed.
Lyrics
Before you pray to the Kursk icon, you need to familiarize yourself with examples of texts.
Prayer
There are two common prayers that are read to the face of the Virgin Mary.
Resolving a Difficult Situation
“Oh Queen of Heaven! Who will count the great multitude of Your miracles, who will count the cries of prayerful petitions, streams of touched tears, grateful sighs shed before Your icon. For all of it is covered in the sorrow of the people, the tears of the oppressed and the joyful praise of the consoled. The people who suffered the Hagaryan yoke fell to her, crying out to Moscow in times of troubles, calling out Kursk to the enemy invasion. The whole region cried out during the days of deadly illnesses and troubles, and you turned all sorrow into joy. In the same way, bless the Russian land now. Save our country from sin, destruction and temptation. Pour grace on agricultural labor and on every good social undertaking. Remember, O Most Holy Virgin, by the name of all those present and praying, and all the people who demand Your consolation, help and mercy. You weigh the secret of our hearts. Likewise, fulfill their requests to everyone according to their needs. Turn more of the lost to repentance, and make us all wise with the light of Gospel love and good deeds. Show the archpastors and shepherds and all the faithful in Orthodoxy steadfast until death, rule them into the Kingdom of Heaven, and make them live with Christ forever and ever. Amen".
Cleansing the soul from negativity
“Our most blessed Queen, our hope to the Mother of God, friend of the orphans and strange intercessors, those who grieve with joy, those who are offended by the patroness! See our misfortune, see our sorrow; help us as we are weak, feed us as we are strange. Weigh our offense, resolve it, as you will, deliver our fatherland, the suffering Russian land from the cruel atheists of the situation, save and preserve Your servants (name) and all of us present and praying here, and cover us from all evil with Your honest omophorion, like There are no other imams of help except You, no other intercessors, no good comforters, except You, O Mother of God, for you will preserve us and cover us forever and ever. Amen".
Akathist
“To the chosen Voivode and the good Hodegetria, who guides us to the Heavenly City, come, let us all fall down, those who do not have the city that dwells here, asking for the all-powerful intercession, miracles, from the ancient years even to this day from Her icon, in remembrance, let us cry out loudly: Rejoice, Lady , the signs of Your mercy ever showing to the world.”
Troparion
“Like an insurmountable wall and a source of miracles, which Your servants, Most Pure Mother of God, have acquired for You, we overthrow the resistant militia. We also pray to You, grant peace to Your city and great mercy to our souls.”
Kontakion
“Thy people celebrate the sign of Thy honorable sign, O Mother of God, to whom Thou hast bestowed a wondrous victory against Thy city of resistance, and with the same faith we cry to Thee: Rejoice, O Virgin, praise to Christians.”
Greatness
“We magnify You, Most Holy Virgin, and honor Your honest image, to which You showed a glorious sign.”
Writing a list
In 1944, the icon of the Mother of God ended up in Munich, where the Synod of the Orthodox Church Abroad moved. Before transferring the miraculous face of the Mother of God to America in order to save it from destruction, it was decided to make a list.
The work was entrusted to Hieromonk Cyprian, who reverently opened the shrine and was dumbfounded, for in front of him lay a board black with soot with barely visible drawings. The icon painter did not know what to do correctly, because he had not received a blessing for the restoration, and there was nothing to paint.
At his own peril and risk, without the permission of the Metropolitan, Cyprian began to wash the icon stroke by stroke, and the Mother of God and Child shone before him under the cover of the Lord, surrounded by Old Testament prophets.
Kursk-Root Icon of the Mother of God “The Sign”
Without waiting for the morning, Cyprian woke up Archimandrite Seraphim, who was amazed by what he saw, but did not know how to confess to the bishop that a miracle had happened through disobedience. The arriving bishop saw the will of God in disobedience, served a prayer service near the icon and blessed Father Cyprian to write the copy.
After both images were dressed in vestments, a piece of wood was split off from the original and mounted on the list. The original flew to America, but the list remained in Europe.
In 1950, the Kursk-Root Hermitage was built near New York, and the miraculous icon of the Mother of God moved into it. In 1957, the Kursk-Root Icon became the guardian of the Cathedral of the Sign, built in honor of this holy image.
The Kursk shrine arrives in Russia in 2000 for the period of worship, and then returns to America again.
On a note! Christians of the North American and Canadian diocese have the opportunity to venerate the Kursk-Root icon every year even today.
In the year of celebrating the millennium of the Baptism of Rus', she visited Australian churches and parishes in South America.
The miraculous shrine fills the hearts of Christians with joy, consolation and hope for help from the Most Pure Mother of God. For the Western world, Russian Orthodox Christians scattered across all corners of the earth, Oranta became a symbol of unity. Now the keeper of the Kursk Icon of the Mother of God “The Sign” is Bishop Nikolai Olkhovsky.
Meaning in Orthodoxy
The holy face is highly valued by Orthodox people, as it helps to cope with various problems. The miraculous icon will help believers:
- cope with infertility;
- heal from many diseases;
- solve financial problems;
- To find a job;
- protect yourself from envious people and ill-wishers.
Description of the shrine
The ancient images - Oranta, personify the Intercessor Mother, they are easily recognizable by the location of the Baby in Her womb.
The icon of the Mother of God of Kursk-Root depicts the Mother of God with her hands raised up in prayer. Together with the Child, the Mother of God forms a single composition, and around them there is a completely different plot, which was added by the will of Tsar Theodore Ioannovich.
Kursk-Root Icon of the Mother of God
From above we see the Lord of Hosts and the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove. To the right and left of the Mother of God are the Old Testament prophets. In their hands are scrolls in which the prophecy about the coming of the Mission is written.
Both the original and copies of the icon of the Mother of God “The Sign” were generously decorated with gold, silver, and velvet. Images of the Lord of Hosts. The Virgin and Child are covered with a scattering of diamonds. Amethysts. Turquoise and other semi-precious stones. Crowns of diamonds were placed above the heads of the Almighty and the Virgin Mary.
About prayers before the Mother of God icons:
- "Inexhaustible Chalice"
- "Vladimirskaya"
- "Tikhvinskaya"
Examples of miracles
There are several miracles that are associated with the face of the saint:
- Protection of the Mother of God. The incident happened at the beginning of the fourteenth century. A man whose name was Mamota was fleeing a crowd of Tatars and climbed a tree located not far from the chapel. The enemies were quickly approaching and suddenly Mamota was covered with some kind of shadow, thanks to which the Tatars did not notice him.
- Help for warriors. The face of the saint was repeatedly used to help soldiers. In the 17th century, it was passed on to the Don Cossacks to maintain morale. In the year 12 of the 19th century, the icon was handed over to the army that fought Napoleon. It was thanks to Our Lady that they managed to defeat the conqueror.
Honored dates
On March 21, Orthodox Christians thank God and the Mother of God for saving the holy image during a terrorist attack, when a bomb was planted and exploded under it.
On the ninth Friday after the Resurrection of the Lord, thousands of parishioners take part in a religious procession from the Znamenskaya Monastery to the Root Hermitage. On the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, September 21, the day of the discovery of the holy image on the river bank is celebrated.
On December 10, Orthodox Christians around the world pay tribute to the icon of the Mother of God “The Sign”.
